A landmark Malaysian Appellate Court ruling has effectively overturned their High Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by MAAFIM (Malaysian Association for the Advancement of Functional and Interdisciplinary Medicine), an NGO for qualified medical doctors, during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, which had asked if doctors can dispense an off-patent drug called Ivermectin, in a re-purposed context.
World Council for Health (WCH) Malaysia partner MAAFIM asked the Appellate Court:
“(1) Whether a registered medical practitioner is entitled to dispense Ivermectin as an ingredient to his or her patient under the Poisons Act 1952 read together with the Poison Regulations 1952?
(2) Whether a registered medical practitioner can dispense Ivermectin to his or her patients for the purposes of the medical treatment of such patient only and in compliance with section 19 of the Poisons Act 1952 and the Poison Regulations 1952?”
To both MAAFIM questions, the Appellate Court’s Ruling was: Yes.
The Appellate Court also affirmed that there was no collateral harm for doctors to seek these reliefs in the High Court.
A landmark judgement
With this landmark judgement by the Appellate Court of Malaysia, it is confirmed that qualified doctors in Malaysia are no longer shackled by wrongful interference as occurred during the Covid crisis of the past three years, but are now free to practice medicine as fully as befits their profession and expertise.
The net benefit of this ruling on doctor rights and autonomy to prescribe wider medicines and treatment options for all their patients can only result in more valuable benefits to all people individually and to the larger society as a whole.
The World Council for Health commends and praises the Malaysian Judiciary for being impartial, fair and balanced in this MAAFIM judgement.
It is quite clear from this ruling that the Malaysian Appellate Court has the best interests not only of the brave doctors who had mounted these legal actions but of all the Malaysians at heart.
WCH also congratulates MAAFIM for persevering to obtain this historic and landmark judgement, which is not just a victory for doctors far and wide but for all people seeking a wider set of treatment options that may now be made available to them by the doctor of their choice.
